


In Which Clint Barton Saves the Day

by BonitaBreezy



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Kid Fic, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Tumblr Fic, clint being a straight up creeper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-31
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2018-01-17 16:13:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1394014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonitaBreezy/pseuds/BonitaBreezy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint spends his day off watching a cute guy at the pool.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Clint Barton Saves the Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wintermute](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintermute/gifts).



> Literally written in a post on tumblr, so if there are typos or anything, sorry.

[Based on this post](http://bonitabreezy.tumblr.com/post/81258378066/thisiswintermute-into-the-log-jeremy-renners)

The very best part about working as a lifeguard was the eye candy.  In fact, Clint spent most of his days off at different pools around his city, just to see what he could see.  Clint had spent the whole day in nothing but swim trunks and sunglasses, stretched out across a pool-side lounge chair at a swimming pool across town from the one he worked at. Pretending that he gave a shit about tanning gave him the opportunity to view dozens of gorgeous men and women every hour. It was definitely a day off well-spent.

Clint’s favorite of the day was a man who Clint could only describe as cute.  He was somewhere in his mid-forties and had thinning brown hair and a really sweet smile that he often directed at the twin little girls that accompanied him.  He had a nice body, not with compact muscle like Clint had, but firm and shapely.  Clint wanted nothing more than to bury his fingers in the man’s chest hair, but he thought the man might find that weird.  Instead, he just watched him interacting with his daughters and wondered whether he’d taken off his wedding ring to swim or didn’t have one at all.

Clint kept an eye on the man for the whole duration of his time at the pool, sighing in disappointment when he wrapped his girls up in big beach towels with Disney princesses on them and led them away from the pool’s edge.  Clint left not long after him, telling himself it was because there were too many kids around, and not because he was disappointed that he had been too much of a chickenshit to go talk to the guy.

He went back to the same pool the next day, hoping that the guy might bring his kids again, and he was not disappointed. Around one in the afternoon they appeared, the girls jumping directly into the pool, shrieking with happiness, while their father laid out their towels on chairs just across the width of the pool from Clint.  Every once in a while he could hear the man’s voice and his (really nice) laugh as he conversed with the girls from the lounger he’d taken up residence on.

He read a book for a while while his kids played, splashing water at each other and clambering on each other’s backs in a way that never would have been allowed at Clint’s pool.  He swept his eyes over the pool, looking for trouble out of habit, and glanced at the lifeguard who was watching his surroundings with a glazed look on his face.  Amateur.

He turned his attention back to the cute guy, pleased to see that he was lowering himself into the water, while his kids cheered happily.  They immediately pounced on him when he was in, dragging him under the water.  He came back up quickly, sending water splashing everywhere, and scooped the two girls into his arms while they shrieked with laughter as he dragged them under.  It was really cute, and Clint found himself smiling fondly as he watched.

It was another half an hour before the man got back out of the pool and toweled off, and for a disappointing moment, Clint thought they were getting ready to leave.  But instead, the man sat back in his lounger and pulled out his book again, settling in to read.  Clint found himself almost dozing as he watched the man read.  He had a cute little furrow between his eyes brows, and every few minutes his tongue would dart out and swipe over his lips, and then he would glance up at his kids and then back down to the book.

Another twenty or so minutes passed before one of the girls got out of the pool and went to talk to her dad.  The other stayed in, venturing away from the edge so she could dive down and do handstands under the water.  Clint watched the cute guy talk to his daughter for a few minutes and offer her some crackers that she probably wasn’t supposed to be eating by the pool.  Clint didn’t work there, though, so he wasn’t going to say anything.  He cast his eyes away from them and back towards the pool, and he noticed that the other twin was gone.  A quick glance at the lifeguard on duty proved that he was now talking to some teenage girls in bikinis, and he sat up quickly, eyes scanning the pool, only to see a thatch of dark hair floating towards the bottom around the five foot area.  

He reacted without really thinking and launched himself into the pool towards that tangle of dark hair.  He really shouldn’t have dove the way he did, considering how shallow the water was, but he managed not to hurt himself and reached her in seconds.  He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the edge of the pool, setting her down and lifting himself up beside her.

Her father looked stricken, and was headed in their direction, but Clint had to make sure she was okay before anything else.  Her forehead was bleeding and she wasn’t breathing, but she couldn’t have been under for more than a minute or two. Clint tilted her head back and started administering CPR, vaguely aware that her father and sister had drawn up beside him, along with the lifeguard.  The whole pool was probably watching what was happening, but Clint was used to that sort of thing and it only took about half a minute for the CPR to take and the little girl to start coughing up water.

"Oh, god, Skye!" her father said, and then he was there, scooping her up into his arms and holding her tightly.  She started to cry, which made her sister start to cry, and he pulled them both close and rocked them back and forth.

"I only looked away for a few minutes, god I’m so sorry, honey are you okay?" he was babbling at his daughter, and she was still crying but more out of fear than anything else, Clint was sure.  He pushed himself to his feet, glad that he had been paying attention, reassured with the knowledge that she would be okay.

He turned to find the lifeguard staring at him and looking pale, and it took everything he had not to deck him.

"Where the fuck were you?" he demanded, fists clenched at his sides. "Don’t answer that.  If you’re too distracted by girls in bathing suits at a god damn pool then you probably shouldn’t be a lifeguard.  I want to talk to your manager."

"Aw man, don’t do that!" the kid complained. "I’m gonna get fired!"

"You should get fired!" Clint spat back. "She could have died!"  The sounds of crying behind him got louder, and he cast a guilty glance back at the shivering girl and her family.  

"Where can I find your manager?" Clint asked, and the kid sighed like it was a big burden and pointed towards the pool house.

The manager was, understandably, livid.  The kid got fired on the spot, and Clint was thanked profusely.  It would have been really bad for business if someone drowned at his pool, after all.  Clint waved off the thanks and then went back out to the pool to grab his towel and shoes.  He was surprised to see the cute man waiting next to his chair when he emerged.  Both the girls were wrapped up in towels, and he was holding Skye in his arms.  She had her head resting against his shoulder and her legs around his waist, clinging tightly.  Her eyes were red and she had a band-aid on her forehead, but she’d stopped crying and mostly just looked tired.

"I can’t even begin to thank you," the man said when Clint got close. "God I just looked away for a minute and she’s such a good swimmer…"

"I think she probably hit her her head," Clint said, motioning to the band-aid.  "Knocked yourself silly with those handstands, huh kid?" She smiled weekly at him and nodded.

"Yeah, you’re gonna have a bit of a bruise, and probably a sore throat, but you’ll be okay.  Just be more careful next time, all right?"  She nodded again and then turned her face into the man’s neck.

"Look man," Clint said, because the guy just looked so completely guilty. "It could have happened to anyone, it’s not your fault.  I’m a lifeguard, okay, and this stuff happens more often than you would think.  Pools can be really dangerous if the lifeguard isn’t paying attention, and he definitely wasn’t.  So don’t freak out, okay?  You’re not neglectful or awful or any of those things you’re thinking you are."

He laughed hollowly and shook his head. “Well, thanks, but I still feel guilty.  And thank you, so much. For helping her.  I don’t know what I’d do if…just, thank you.  Is there some way I can repay you?”

Clint waved the man’s words away with a hand. “No, man, that’s totally not necessary.  I’m just glad that I was paying attention.  And uh, not in a weird way.” He added that last part quickly, realizing how badly it could be taken.

The man only smiled, making his eyes crinkle at the corners, and shook his head. “No, I understand.  I, uh, noticed you watching me.” The tips of his ears went a little pink, and it was the most adorable thing Clint had ever seen, even though he was embarrassed at having been caught being creepy.

"Yeah, I’m sorry about that," Clint offered awkwardly, but the man just smiled again.

"That’s okay.  This is probably incredibly inappropriate timing, all things considered, but would you maybe want to get coffee sometime?" 

"Yeah!" Clint said quickly, and then paused. "I mean…if you want to.  This isn’t just to thank me, right?"

"No," he said quickly. "It’s not like that at all.  I, um.  Well, I saw you yesterday and I might have come back today just hoping you would be here.  And thank god you were."  He squeezed his daughter tightly again, like he was making sure she was still there and still okay.  

"Then yeah," Clint said, smiling at him. "I’m Clint, by the way."

"Phil," he responded. "So, I’ll just give you my phone number and you can text me? My hands are kind of full."

"Oh yeah," Clint said, and he grabbed his phone from the pocket of his jeans that he had thankfully not been wearing.  He took Phil’s phone number down and sent him a quick text, and then smiled at him.

"I should get going," Phil said. "It’s been a long day, I think."

"Oh yeah, definitely," Clint agreed. "I’ll call you.  Or you can call me."

"Right," Phil said, "And again, thank you so much.  I owe you everything."

"You’re welcome." Clint watched them leave, winking at the second twin when she turned back to grin at him, and then took a minute to reflect.  The day had definitely been an exciting one, and he found he was suddenly tired from the adrenaline.  He gathered his things and left, and by the time he got back to his apartment he had a text from Phil waiting for him.  It was just another thank you, but it still made Clint’s chest swell to see it.

The day definitely hadn’t gone as he expected, but in the end it turned out pretty well. 


End file.
